Daniel O'Neill (Royalist)

Daniel O'Neill
Born	c.1612 Castlereagh, County Down, Kingdom of Ireland
Died	24 October 1664 London, Kingdom of England
Nationality	Irish
Occupation	Soldier, Spy

Daniel O'Neill (Irish: Dónall Ó Néill; c.1612 in Castlereagh – 24 October 1664 in Whitehall) was an Irish army officer, politician and courtier. He was part of the O'Neill Dynasty of Ulster, the nephew of Owen Roe O'Neill and the great-nephew of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

O'Neill was the eldest son of Con Mac Niall O'Neill, lord of Clandeboye and his wife, Eilis (a paternal niece of Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone). His father lost land after defeat at the Siege of Kinsale, leaving O'Neill to inherit a small estate at a young age in 1619. He then became a ward of Chancery and was raised in England as an Anglican. His estate was late given to Hugh Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery and O'Neill and his brother were granted an annuity.

With little prospects in his native Ireland, O'Neill then served under Lord Conway in the Low Countries during the 1630s, gaining military experience and friends such as Elizabeth of Bohemia and her husband, Frederick V, Elector Palatine. Using these connections, he petitioned for his lands to be restored to him, but despite support by William Laud, Lord Arundel and Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine, he was rebuffed by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Thomas Wentworth (later Earl of Strafford). Waiting for his petitions to be accepted, O'Neill returned to the Low Countries in 1637 and saw action at the Siege of Breda and later in the Bishops' Wars, where he was captured at the Battle of Newburn and imprisoned at Newcastle upon Tyne.